A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

CHAP. VII DISSATISFACTION OF RANJIT SINGH 219

steadily adhered to, the whole project would have eminently 1838.
answered the ends intended, and would have been, in every
way, worthy of the English name.'
In the beginning of 1838 the Governor-General did not Negotiacontemplate the restoration of Shah Shuja; 2 but in four ions rthe
months the scheme was adopted, and in May of that year restoration
Sir William Macnaghten was sent to Ranjit Singh to unfold f Shah
the views of the British Government.3 The Maharaja May, July,
grasped at the first idea which presented itself, of making 1838.
use of the Shah at the head of his armies, with the proclaimed
support of the paramount power in India; but he disliked Ranjit
the complete view of the scheme, and the active co-opera- satisfiedi
tion of his old allies. It chafed him that he was to resign but finally
all hope of Shikarpur, and that he was to be enclosed within assents.
the iron arms of the English rule. He suddenly broke up
1 The Governor-General's minute of 12th May 1838, and his
declaration of the 1st October of the same year, may be referred to
as summing up the views which, moved the British Government
on the occasion. Both were published by order of Parliament in
March 1839.
2 Government to Capt. Wade, 20th Jan. 1838.
3 The proximate cause of the resolution to restore Shah Shuja
was, of course, the preference given by Dost Muhammad to a Persian
and Russian over a British alliance, and the immediate object of
deputing Sir W. Macnaghten to Lahore was to make Ranjit Singh
as much as possible a party to the policy adopted. (See, among
other letters, Government to Capt. Wade, 15th May 1838.) The
deputation crossed into the Punjab at Rupar on the 20th May.
It remained some time at Dinanagar, and afterwards went to
Lahore. The first interview with Ranjit Singh was on the 31st May,
the last on the 13th July. Sir William Macnaghten recrossed the
Sutlej at Ludhiana on the 15th July, and on that and the following
day he arranged with Shah Shuja in person the terms of his restoration.
Two months before the deputation waited upon Ranjit Singh, he
had visited Jammu for apparently the first time in his life, and the
same may be regarded as the last in which the worn-out prince
tasted of unalloyed happiness. Gulab Singh received his sovereign
with every demonstration of loyalty, and, bowing to the Maharaja's
feet, he laid before him presents worth nearly forty thousand pounds,
saying he was the humblest of his slaves, and the most grateful of
those on whom he had heaped favours. Ranjit Singh shed tears,
but afterwards pertinently observed that, in Jammu, gold might be
seen where formerly there was naught but stones. (Major Mackeson's
letter to Capt. Wade of 31st March 1838.)